Conventional tire repair apparatuses generally consist of a mandril for supporting a tire, a heating pad insertable within the tire for curing the repair plug, and an inflatable air bag which fills the interior of the tire and maintains pressure on the heating pad during the curing of the plug. Such apparatuses are relatively inefficient in that they do not provide adequate pressure on the curing plug and the plug is not fully vulcanized because it is not cured from both the interior and the exterior of the tire. A further drawback of such a tire repair apparatus is its size and awkwardness which renders it ineffective as an easily manageable, portable unit.
Recently, efforts have been made to produce portable tire repair apparatus. However, these efforts have not been totally effective in that the portable units presently available are not capable of gaining access to essentially any area on the tire body to effect repairs thereto. To add to the versatility, such portable units have been provided with heating pads mounted over expandable air bags in an attempt to reach otherwise inaccessible areas within the tire. However, even this arrangement does not permit total access to the interior of the tire.
The present invention has been constructed to overcome these difficulties, and consists of a portable tire repair apparatus adapted for repairing both tire treads and tire sidewalls. The apparatus comprises an open sided frame, two resilient heating elements supported interiorly of the frame at the open side and presenting opposing heating surfaces, and means for adjusting the distance between the heating elements and for clamping a damaged tire portion therebetween. The frame is dimensioned for sleeving of the tire over the frame and the heating elements are supported from the frame in a manner permitting access to and contact with both the interior and the exterior of a tire tread, as well as the tire sidewall, to effect repairs to essentially all areas on the tire surface.